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They live a mile apart, use instant messaging to keep in touch all day long and have even dated the same woman. Oh yes, and they once shared a womb for nine months.

John and Charles Robinson are identical twins, and they know their story of sameness is far from unique. In fact, this weekend they are getting together with more than 2,000 other sets of twins to celebrate this fact, at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, which they have been attending for the past 25 years.

The festival, which has been held annually since 1976, touts itself as the largest annual gathering of twins in the world.

Twins and other multiples are invited to mix amid the usual festival fare of arts and crafts, food and drinks.

A pair of twins in stars and stripes garb at the 2009 Twins Day Festival.(Supplied: Charles Robinson)

But the biggest attraction, according to the Robinsons, is meeting people from all walks of life who understand what it's like having a double in the world.

"Part of the thing that is so fun about this festival is that it's such a diverse group – there's only one thing that everybody in this crowd has in common," John says.

They arrived and found themselves surrounded by twins wearing matching clothes.

"And we were kind of freaked out, we were like 'what have we done?'" John says.

It didn't take long for them to be enveloped into the fun of the twin competitions, "festival king and queen" crownings and games around the pool. By the time they left, they were determined to return the following year.

That first year they stayed 18 hours. Now they stay a week, even though the festival only lasts a couple of days.

Past "Royal Court" members preside over the 2015 parade.(Supplied: John Robinson)

"It's like a family reunion," John says.

"It is a big party but it's also like a family reunion. We take that much time because we've gotten to know that many people you can't possibly say hello to everybody in three days."

Taking twinning to the next level

Twinsburg was so named after identical twins Moses and Aaron Wilcox, who were early settlers of the town.

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According to their memorial in the town, they married sisters, were in business together and died less than a day apart.

Like the Wilcoxes, some twins who frequent Twinsburg take their double identity to the next level.

In 1993, two pairs of identical twins — Jena and Jill Lassen and Doug and Phil Malm — had a double wedding at the festival.

The Robinsons say the twin couples are still married, have kids who look as alike as siblings and still come to the festival almost every year.

The Malms and the Lassens had a double wedding at the 1993 festival.(Supplied: John Robinson)

They laughed off the idea of ever marrying twins themselves.

"We've never had the same taste in women," Charles says.

And yet...

"I actually went on a date with his wife first," John says.

"We'd met online, on a computer bulletin board, dialling up, modems, the whole bit. Totally hit it off, like she's great. She's smart, she's funny, a lot of fun. We went out and it was like 'that was fun... Charles, you should go out with her'."

Charles breaks into a smile. "It worked out, yeah."

John Robinson poses with a footpath stencil at the 40th Twins Days Festival in 2015.(Supplied: Charles Robinson)

John says being a twin is an "enormous" part of his daily life, even as an adult.

"Even though it might not be something that we make a big deal about outwardly, to our friends, our relatives" — "or spouses" says Charles — "or spouses" John repeats, as they share a look.

Charles continues: "There was a time in our lives when it annoyed us being twins, and [the festival] has shown us that it can be kind of fun again."

John adds: "That's right. It made us appreciate it. And it runs really deep and really strong."

Australian contingent set to grow next year

Identical twins David and Phillip Rankin (wearing hats) from New South Wales have brought an Australian flavour to the Twins Days Festival.(Supplied: Phillip Rankin)

Twins come from all over the world to attend the festival, including from Australia.

Identical twins Phillip and David Rankin travelled from New South Wales in 2012 for their 50th birthday and had so much fun they returned in 2015.

"We set the Aussies on the Yanks and completely blew them away," Phillip says.

"There's so much understanding and connection with everybody, immediate links.

"It's going back to a family you didn't know you had. It's like a homecoming."

They hope to take a much larger Australian contingent next year.

Phillip says going along was a chance to make up for a lifetime of answering twin-related questions.

"All our lives we've had fingers being pointed and questions being asked and we got the chance to do it to 2,000 sets of twins at once," he says.

"It's the most bizarre event you've ever been to in your life."

Phillip and David Rankin represent Australia at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio(Supplied: Phillip Rankin)